Rico Verhoeven and Daniel Ghita used to be sparring partners who
enjoyed friendly relations -- even if, at the back of their minds,
they both knew that they would one day have to face off inside the
ring.

In kickboxing, it is common for training partners to fight one
another, so the heavyweights did not anticipate too many problems.
But, when their fight finally came around in the grand final of the
Glory 11 heavyweight tournament, things changed.

Prior to the tournament, the fighters prepared separately, and when
both men won their semifinal bouts and progressed to the final,
they had a fight for the ages. Verhoeven (43-9, 10 KOs) won the
decision, but Ghita (50-10, 39 KOs) took issue with the judges,
claiming that CompuStrike stats proved him to be the rightful
winner.

Now, they are set to fight again in the main event of Glory “Last
Man Standing.” The card, which takes place June 21 at The Forum in
Inglewood, Calif., is the first pay-per-view card from the
kickboxing premier league. On the line in Ghita and Verhoeven’s
bout will be the company’s vacant heavyweight title.

“No doubt [Ghita] is someone who feels a lot of tension,” Verhoeven
tells Sherdog.com over the telephone as he drives home from another
training session in his native Holland. “In the past, I think he
has showed that he cannot handle the pressure. Every time he fought
a big name, he was ‘not at home’ mentally. Every time something
happens, he has an excuse.

“He got knocked out by [Gokhan] Saki in Turkey but talked about bad
refereeing, and then he fought me and lost, and again he’s saying
there was something wrong, this time with the judges. Well, it’s a
judging sport, so however they see it is however they see it.

“And he’s talking about these CompuStrike statistics? Well I’m not
interested in that. The key thing is how it looks to the [judges’]
eye. In the last round, he was dropping to the canvas just from
tiredness. Can you imagine if it had gone to the extra round? I
think he would definitely have been knocked out.”

Of late, the two have been involved in a public feud via Twitter,
with Ghita taunting his younger rival as a “fake champion” and
“boring fighter” who is “not explosive.” Verhoeven took it well at
first but gradually became more annoyed.

“Like I said to him on Twitter, it seems I don’t need to be
explosive to beat him,” Verhoeven laughs. “I beat him before and I
will beat him again. And it’s all about that win. I am not going
for the coin-flip; I am going for the win.

“He said he was too focused on a rematch with Saki, but it was the
same for me. I didn’t train for Ghita because my trainer Dennis
Krauweel said ‘Look, if we meet Daniel in the final then it is no
problem because we know him inside out. And we know he cannot
handle the pressure and always breaks under tension.’

“I can adapt in every fight. My first fight that night, against
Saki, looked totally different to my next fight, against Ghita. You
saw two different Ricos. So it doesn’t mean anything when he says
he didn’t prepare for me. If you cannot adapt then that says
everything that needs to be said.

“I didn’t train for a fight with Ghita, but when we fought I won.
So when he says he didn’t prepare for me, he prepared for Saki --
well, you’re fighter, so you need to be able to adapt and to fight
anyone.”

One comment which particularly got under Verhoeven’s skin was
Ghita’s claim in a recent Sherdog interview to have repeatedly
knocked down and dominated Verhoven during their sparring
sessions.

“I think we trained together for about three years. It was the
perfect relationship at first. He is definitely a gifted guy. In
the first year, I learned a lot from him, but after that I think
maybe it was the other way around,” says Verhoeven. “But over the
years were trained together I noticed that there were certain times
he would cancel training sessions with me. When he had a fight
coming up, the closer it got to fight night, he would often cancel
the final training sessions before that fight. Does that mean he
was too good to spar with me? Or was it that he felt I was too good
[to spar with before his fight]?

“He said he knocked me down in sparring all the time. Well, I can
tell you in this: I think in the second year of our sparring
together we made a good training session and I got a bit
over-confident. I went in and he dazzled me with a high kick. That
was one time. So maybe that is what he is talking about. I can’t
think of anything else. And I paid him back in the final of the
Glory 11 tournament.”

It is rare for kickboxers to engage in trash talk before a fight
and rarer still for a quiet, considered man like Ghita to be the
verbal aggressor. Fans have been enjoying the exchanges immensely,
but Verhoeven thinks Ghita might be doing himself no favors.

“He is obviously looking for the media attention and yeah, he is
getting it, but with all the attention he is also putting pressure
on himself. Can he handle all that pressure?” Verhoeven asks. “I
think it will be tough for him. That plus the fact that time is
ticking for him, he is getting older and the clock is ticking. How
many more title fights does he have left in him?”

If Ghita’s last fight is anything to go by, age is not an issue. At
33, he is eight years older than Verhoeven but is as dangerous as
ever. His last fight saw him take out the durable and dangerous
Errol
Zimmerman in an incredible 35 seconds of one-sided
violence.

“Meh, that fight lasted like a minute. I don’t think it showed us
very much. He can try to do that against me if he wants. He can
bring whatever he has and we will see what happens,” says
Verhoeven.

Verhoeven will soon head to the United States to get acclimated
ahead of the June 21 fight. In the past, he has based himself at
the Blackzilians’ Florida headquarters to prepare for his stateside
ventures, but for this one he is going straight to California and
training at Dynamix MMA, a gym headed by fellow Dutchman and former
kickboxer Antoni
Hardonk.

“I am prepared well, I am ready for this fight and I am excited,”
Verhoeven says. “I know the fans are excited so for me I just want
another amazing fight -- and to prove that I am number one, again.”